Pirates sunk twice

The Bickleton boys basketball team continues to struggle but Coach Jerry Roberts says his Pirates are showing some promising signs of improvement.

Last weekend the Pirates first faced Trout Lake-Glenwood at home on Friday, dropping a 73-25 decision to the visiting Mustangs.

Roberts praised Bickleton players Peter Clinton, who had three steals and scored 5 points, and Justin Roberts, who was the team's top scorer with 8 points.

"We just shot poorly," Roberts said. He went on to reveal that the team shot 25 percent from the field and had 32 turnovers.

Also scoring for the Bickleton team were Taylor Brown with 6 points, and Joshua Cummings, Mitchell Powers and Justin Harvey with 2 points apiece.

The Pirates fared better against Lyle in an away game on Saturday. Though the Bickleton team still suffered a 48-24 loss to Lyle, Roberts says he saw some real signs of life from his team during the second half of the game.

Lyle jumped out to an early lead, ending the first quarter up 17-4. After the halftime break, the Pirates came back and outscored the Cougars in the third quarter 10-8.

"The second half of the game we actually played," he said.

Bickleton's top scorers for the game were Roberts with 12 points and Clinton with 8.

Coach Roberts also revealed that the team shot just 28 percent from the field but he added that his top two scorers, Roberts and Clinton, shot at 54 and 66 percent from the field, respectively.

"Those guys were shooting really good," he said.

Bickleton also had 28 rebounds in the game, nearly matching Lyle's 29 rebounds.

But when it came to turnovers, Lyle had only nine, while Bickleton suffered 23.

Both of last weekend's games were league contests.

Roberts says his team has the knowledge, skills and attitude to be a winning team, but they just need to put it all together.

The Pirates (0-2, 1-6) stay home for their next game against the Zillah C squad this coming Thursday.